Game design from the beginning

[Gads]

Access sucks scissors sideways. Go with SQL Server Express or mySQL Free

I agree with Jon. MS SQL is my preferred relational DB. But it does depend on what you plan to implement. For Ilkor: Dark Rising we've gone for both SQL and MongoDb. Mongo for our game map and SQL for the typical relational data entities.

Mongo is free and MS SQL isn't nearly as expensive as at first it might appear.

Sql Server Express is free. Later can be ported up to the paid version if needed

http://www.microsoft.com/express/Database/

True, however I don't think in the real world (hosting) it is that easy (seamless) to scale up. You actually have to 'script' your entities and data across.